Income Tax Filing

[astroduck]

Hi all,

We submitted our family sponsorship application for my wife to CIC last week. My wife is on visitor status and currently staying with me in Canada. I am a Canadian citizen and am in the process filing my income tax for year 2011. I understand I need to declare I am married (status changed from single to married) and indicated my wife's personal information. My wife has never worked in Canada and she has no income for year 2011 in her home country (Hong Kong). I believed she doesn't need to file a separate return. However, do we need to notify CRA that she is in Canada waiting for the process of immigration (like a letter)? Her visitor visa expires in April and we are planning to extend it.
Also, can I use all zeros for her SIN while I am filing out my return? She has no SIN.

Any advice is appreciated!!

Thanks.

astro

 

[astroduck]

Any advice?? ;D

 

[computergeek]

Funny, I think I've posted this link several times in the past couple of days.

Your wife needs an ITN. CRA provides this to you.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1261/t1261e.pdf

 

[CheshireCats]

I am going through this exact same thing. My husband awaiting his PR...
He had to print off T1 Generals for both years we were married, 2010/2011 and file as NIL and send off a bunch of information to the International Tax Office, try giving them a call as each circumstance is different.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/cntct/international-eng.html

The agents were extremely helpful! They can walk you through which forms you need to print off and fill out.

 

[astroduck]

Thanks guys. i contacted International Tax Centre and the lady said my wife doesn't need to file an income tax return since she doesn't earn any income throughout the year 2011. But I have to indicate on my own return that she is my spouse (I have to fill in her personal info). I am using Ufile so I can just put 000-000-000 for her SIN under my return.
I believe an ITN is needed when the person needs to file a return.

 

[XAVIER14]

im also waiting for my spouse's PR and had an income in 2011 but in the philippines...do i still need to include his income when i file my income tax?? technically i shouldnt coz he doesnt have a SIN ..

advice please

 

[jazzalbart]

I'm not sure what would be the right step for you, but I must say that you should consult with a finance planner once. Definitely, he will suggest you some ideas.

 

[Azsereth]

Thanks guys. i contacted International Tax Centre and the lady said my wife doesn't need to file an income tax return since she doesn't earn any income throughout the year 2011. But I have to indicate on my own return that she is my spouse (I have to fill in her personal info). I am using Ufile so I can just put 000-000-000 for her SIN under my return.
I believe an ITN is needed when the person needs to file a return.

She doesn't have to file a return, but if she has any unused credits that could be transferred to you, she'd have to file for you to use them. So if you have income that you will pay taxes on, you'd benefit by her filing (because you can use her base credit of 10k).

 

[danielren]

Hi, how long did your wife stay in Canada in 2011, if she stayed less than 183 days, she doesn't have to file a tax return, and she will be considered as non-resident in tax. If she stayed more than 183 days in Canada, she will be considered as a deemed resident, but all the non-refundable tax credits will be prorated based on her stay in Canada, and she has report all her global income after her arrival in Canada.

Be careful if you are filing a return for her especially when you are claiming the unused non-refundable tax credits from her, you have to provide proof to CRA that you are financially supporting her, so it's better not to claim that, for GST/HST credit claims, you have to fill out the form RC56 (you can get the form on CRA website) and send it with your income tax return. This form is important, if you don't send it, your GST/HST credits will be messed up on CRA side, and they will always ask you to pay back the credits they have already issued to you if there is any because they automatically assume that your spouse income is high enough so that you are not eligible for claiming the credit.